Endotracheal (ET) tubes, or laryngeal mask airways, or the like, are commonly used for airway management, mechanical ventilation, and as a drug delivery device when intravenous delivery cannot be established. An endotracheal tube is inserted through a process called intubation. During intubation, the endotracheal tube is inserted into the trachea through the patient's opening, either directly through the mouth and throat, or via an incision such as a tracheostomy, in order to keep the airway open and to allow air to reach the lungs. Endotracheal tubes often include a cuff to prevent air leaks during mechanical ventilation. This cuff is most commonly positioned at the distal end of the tube and can be inflatable.
Unfortunately, it is possible for undesirable subglottic secretions to collect around the top of the endotracheal tube's cuff. In order to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), it can be beneficial to remove these secretions by some means. One way to remove these secretions is to remove the endotracheal tube and then re-intubate the patient. However, continued re-intubation can be traumatic to the patient's trachea and is therefore not preferable. Alternatively, suction can be applied to remove these secretions through an additional lumen in the ET tube post intubation. This suction can be applied to remove the accumulated secretions around the outside of the ET tube. However, additional accumulated secretions can collect inside the main lumen of the ET tube itself, which may also need to be removed.
It is therefore desirable to provide a device and method for suctioning these secretions from the inside of the tube without having to remove the endotracheal tube.
An example of a known device for removing material from the lumen of a tube is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,125. This device actually closely resembles an ET tube itself, having a catheter body with an inflatable balloon and apertures proximal thereto for suctioning the material after the balloon is inflated. A problem with this device is that it is not possible to adequately suction the region inside the tube distal to the device or without inflating the balloon.